"Every person has a different opinion.

I fear perhaps the former, as I hope so much the latter." Only with large reservations would he now have repeated the rule Codrington tells us he inculcated,--"that every man became a bachelor after passing the Rock of Gibraltar, and he was not very tardy in showing that he practised what he preached.

Honour, glory and distinction were the whole object of his life, and that dear domestic happiness never abstracted his attention." He did, indeed, rail at marriage[57] during his last cruise, now fast approaching; but his passionate devotion to Lady Hamilton, and his yearning for home, knew no abatement.

Yet, through all and over all, the love of glory and the sense of honor continued to the last to reign supreme.

"Government cannot be more anxious for my departure," he tells St.Vincent, "than I am, if a war, to go." Meantime the necessary preparations were quietly progressing, while the diplomatic discussions with France became more and more bitter and hopeless, turning mainly on the question of Malta, though the root of the trouble lay far deeper.